Vail, Beaver Creek get a fluffy early Christmas present, with Santa still delivering snow

Editor’s note: With another inch on Christmas, the latest storm cycle deposited 10 inches total and brought Vail’s cumulative accumulation to 100 inches for the season. Two of Blue Sky Basin’s chairlifts were cranked up, bringing Vail to 85% of available terrain as of Tuesday morning, Dec. 26.

Santa came early to the Vail Valley, eschewing the coal and stuffing all of our stockings with 6 inches of fresh snow at Vail and 9 new at Beaver Creek overnight Saturday into Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, Christmas Eve, Vail Mountain was nearly 75% open, with 24 of 33 lifts spinning and 207 of 278 trails open. Beaver Creek was 31% open, with 21 of 26 lifts spinning and 70 of 224 trails open.

On the season — despite a recent dry spell — Vail is rapidly closing in on 100 inches, with 96 total as of Sunday morning and snow still falling as of 10 a.m. Beaver Creek has seen 73 inches on the season.

“The second phase of the storm on Saturday afternoon and Saturday night delivered 3-10 inches from the northern San Juans through the central and northern mountains,” meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com reported Sunday morning. “On Sunday and Sunday night, additional snow showers should keep conditions soft across the northern mountains. Then we’ll head into about a one-week dry stretch, with a stormier weather pattern early in the new year.”